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{ May/20/2013 }
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Issues and Resources for Veterans in the Justice System
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Pro BonoPro Bono CornerPRO BONO CORNER By Katie B. As always thank you for doing what you do and please stop in and say Hi to Katie when you get a chance, she is pretty dynamic. My phone number is (518) 445-7691 x 13 and my email is eguinan@albanycountybar.com. If there is anything I can do, or anything I need to know, drop me a line. (From the April 2013 Newsletter) A Hispanic woman came into the office last September with papers in hand. She spoke only Spanish. I did not understand her. She handed me a stack of papers. While looking at the papers and using a lot of hand signals, I was able to figure out who was who but not what was going on. I asked her to bring a friend with her who could interpret for us. She came back with a friend and I finally got her story. Long story short, the woman owned an apartment that was being managed by a Homeowners Association. She was being sued for sewage that emptied into an unoccupied apartment. Because there was sewage outside her door, she called a plumber and the plumber “fixed the problem” which supposedly caused the sewage problem in the unoccupied apartment. There were so many names and so many papers and so many people suing groups of people, I knew this was a job for superman! I called Brian Matula of Cooper Erving and Savage LLP and asked if he could look at the case. He said yes and that is the last I heard of the situation until I got a letter in the mail from Brian. It said, if you recall your office referred Ms. Davis (name has been changed to protect the innocent) to me for Pro Bono representation in the above referenced matter. I am pleased to report that the claims against Ms. Davis have been dismissed in entirety. Brian made a Motion to Dismiss which was granted by the judge. Since the motion to dismiss was granted Brian was able to obtain voluntary discontinuances from a Third-Party Co-Defendant who had asserted Third-Party Cross-Claims against Ms. Davis. Now this is the second language in this case I didn’t understand. That is why lawyers are lawyers and people without financial means to hire a lawyer need you! Brian changed this woman’s life by stepping up for her. By providing Ms. Davis with Pro Bono representation and keeping track of his hours Brian earned 10 Pro Bono CLE credits. A new associate, Jessica Vigars, in the firm earned 1.5 credits on the case. The other was a landlord/ tenant case. It involved a man and woman and four children who were living in an apartment with lead paint exposure and a serious mice infestation. After many attempts to get things straightened out with the landlord the family moved out and stayed with relatives to stop the exposure of lead paint to their four children. They came into the office with a stack of documentation all neatly ordered with their attempts to resolve the issue with the landlord. One would naturally think that an issue as documented and cleanly laid out as this was, could be resolved. But that is not how it happens in the real world for a lay person even if they are bright and articulate. I called Christopher Amato of Sive, Paget and Riesel, P.C. and asked him if he would look at the case. He said yes and I forwarded him the documentation. Chris met with the clients and eventually the case went to trial because the landlord refused to settle and wanted a large judgment as the family had left their belongings in the house during this period of time. Chris tells me it was an interesting case and that he actually subpoenaed a person from the Health Department to testify because it was clearly a breach of warranty of habitability. Chris was able to negotiate the judgment down, the family retrieved their belongings and they are living in a healthier environment now. The couple was very satisfied because they realized they faced a much larger judgment than was ordered as keeping their belongings in the house was considered storage. Chris earned 10 Pro Bono CLE credits for his work and said he would have done it for nothing. The reward is that the children were not affected by the lead paint exposure. He even told me to keep him on my Pro Bono list! Thanks Brian, Jessica and Chris for helping these people. Without you the outcome would not have been the same! Thanks for all you do! My phone number is (518) 445-7691 x 13 and my email is eguinan@albanycountybar.com. If there is anything I can do, or anything I need to know, drop me a line. (From the March 2013 Newsletter) A week after the CLE, I get a phone call from a woman that needed help with what she described as a “very simple” support issue. She assured me she had asked for representation and was denied. I did an intake and she met our eligibility criteria. Based on the clients description of the “very simple” issue, one of the attorneys who had attended the training agreed to take the case and contacted the client. Long story short, the Family Court file that “didn’t exist” was as thick as an old dictionary. The “very simple” support issue was both custody and support and “very complex”. This had the potential to be a lengthy difficult case. The attorney and I discussed this and decided this was not the limited legal representation we agreed to offer. I contacted the client and told her based on the review of her Family Court files we would be unable to offer her pro bono services for her case as it proved to be much more complex than originally presented to us. The client understood. She is eligible for our pro se divorce program after the custody and support hearing is completed. What did I learn? Some people only tell you part of the story to get your assistance and then the real truth comes out when you start to peel the onion. Some people will manipulate any system to get free help. Wanting to help people and provide pro bono services is sometimes daunting and not as rewarding as it appears. I am sure many of you are out there nodding your heads up and down right now. I get it, BUT, I still get plenty of calls from really deserving people who need your help. I can promise them I will look into it and try to find them a pro bono attorney, but I sure need you to be on the other end of the line nodding your head up and down that you will take a pro bono case. I need to draw up a pro bono Client/ Attorney agreement that incorporates a lot of what this experience taught both the attorney and myself. With the assistance of both the attorney and Michael Friedman’s an agreement is coming together. Thanks for all you do! My phone number is (518) 445-7691 x 13 and my email is eguinan@albanycountybar.com. If there is anything I can do, or anything I need to know, drop me a line. (From the January 2013 Newsletter) “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” Edith Lovejoy Pierce Now I know after an opening like that you might expect me to go on about taking pro bono cases for the ACBA and helping to provide equal access to justice for the underprivileged. Actually, I am going to leave you alone about pro bono cases this month and let the quote above be my plea, knowing you may find a page in this year’s book of opportunity for someone that needs your legal help and can’t afford it. The Albany Law School students have started doing their pro bono work at the Family Court Help Desk. It is a treat to have someone with me since I have lost all my volunteers to jobs! It’s a pleasure to see the students embrace the people at Family Court, listening to their stories and assisting them with the petitions. One of them said to me today “They sure don’t teach you this in law school!” I had to laugh to myself because I have seen things in Family Court that no education, other than life, could prepare you for. Speaking of Family Court, ACBA is holding a Family Court CLE on January 31st at 4pm in the Jurors Lounge of the Judicial Center. The purpose for the CLE is so I can convince a bunch of you to take pro bono family court cases in exchange for the free CLE’s. More important than the free CLE is to gain a wealth of knowledge from the presenters, Honorable Judge Walsh, Michael Friedman Esq, Sherry McNulty, Esq. and David Cardona, Chief Clerk of Albany County Family Court. From the mouths of babes, “they don’t teach you this in law school”. Please save the date and let’s flood the room with people for this CLE. To all of you who I have grown to appreciate and admire, have a safe and prosperous year and fill in many of those pages in this years book of opportunities with your stories of the pro……………………….oh, I almost lost myself……….Peace, Eileen Thanks for all you do! My phone number is (518) 445-7691 x 13 and my email is eguinan@albanycountybar.com. If there is anything I can do, or anything I need to know, drop me a line. ****************************************** “Things They Don’t Teach You in Law School” Presenters: CLE Credit: Three Hours of Skills ******************************** Please return by fax or mail to: Eileen Guinan, Pro Bono Coordinator In October I wrote about the need for more pro bono attorney volunteers for fear of drying up the well I go to so often. My phone has not started ringing off the hook yet but trust me, I am prepared. And to make all of your lives easier, this issue of the newsletter has an attached Pro Bono Registration Form. Make copies in red or green and they will make great stocking stuffers for your firm and lawyer friends. They may become the hottest present on the market this year. Seriously folks, in this season of giving, why not take just one pro bono case for me. It will make a world of difference for someone who would be facing a judge without representation and most clients are so grateful for help. As a matter of fact let me tell you about one of ACBA’s clients. Last May, a Middle Eastern woman walked into our office. She was shy, quiet and very withdrawn. She had a divorce judgment in her hand and did not know how to interpret it or what to do with it. I looked at it for her and explained what it meant. She was very difficult to communicate with as her English was limited, but we spent quite a bit time and even drew some pictures and she got the gist of it. She had been born and raised in the Middle East, married in the Middle East and had three children. 10 years ago they moved to the United States, bought a house and were living their lives with him working and her staying home. He would not let her work and would not let her learn English. At the end of 2010 her husband threw her out of the house. He kept the three children (very cultural I am told), and filed for and received a divorce judgment in early 2012. Although the judgment allowed her half the equity in the house her husband ignored that fact. I needed a pro bono attorney to assist her and asked Robert Young to look at the paperwork. He did and he took her on as a pro bono case for the ACBA. I then had to hunt for an appraiser to do a pro bono appraisal on the house. Many phone calls later I hit the right appraiser, Edward F Bedinotti. He agreed to help and although he was fortunately busy, he would get to it as soon as possible. We had the appraisal completed, the report written and ACBA used our pro bono process server to serve the ex husband with the demand. Robert Young went to court; the judge demanded that the ex husband make the appropriate arrangements to satisfy the judgment. In order to do this Robert asked me to get a real estate attorney to help. This is where Eric Gee came in, he agreed to assist Robert. Now we have two pro bono attorneys, one pro bono appraiser and one pro bono process server. Ahhhh, the story gets stickier, Robert Young accepted an attorney position with NYS and the case is still open. What to do? I asked Eric Gee if he would take the case on for ACBA and in the true spirit of pro bono he said yes. I can’t begin to calculate the hours that have gone into assisting this woman who calls me her friend. I arranged to have her attend English classes two days a week and her English gets better by the day. She smiles, holds her head up and talks to me about “My lawyers Robert and Eric” with a grateful pride. Her husband has stopped paying the mortgage in an attempt to make sure she gets nothing. But we continue to plug away at it as she transforms into another woman. The other day, during one of her visits to us, she said her ex husband wants her to think like a Middle Eastern woman and accept her fate, but she says, “I am in America, I have rights as a woman and with all the help I am getting from the ACBA, I no longer must think like a Middle Eastern woman.” This is pro bono at its best, and I get to see a life change for the better because of attorneys like Robert Young and Eric Gee and the other people with skills that are willing to do things out of the goodness of their hearts. In October I asked if anyone knew where the term “Uncle” (meaning I give up) comes from. AGAIN my phone didn’t ring off the hook. Maybe no one reads my articles but on the off chance that one or two of you do, here is an answer. Who knows if it’s accurate but it’s interesting none the less. Speaking of making people cry “UNCLE,” not only does Michael Friedman oversee our pro se divorce program he and I did the training for the Albany Law School students to prepare them to assist at the Family Court Help Desk. We will be keeping a log so that it can be reviewed by him and we can properly supervise the students for their pro bono 50 hour requirement credits. The students are sure to learn a lot and the face to face interaction can only better prepare them to becoming attorneys. Family Court is such a sad and angry place. I had a grandfather come in who had raised both his granddaughters and was now raising a great grandson. He is a lovely man and needed assistance getting child support from his daughter. She had received a large sum of money and was due another large sum and continued to be able to skirt the system without fulfilling her support obligation or her large amount of arrears. I went to one of my familiar wells, Carl Ekberg, and asked if he could help this gentleman. As always, with a little “not family court again!” comment, Carl said yes and they have been plugging along ever since. I see them every now and then when I am in family court. I received a great thank you card from the grandfather. Inside it merely said “Eileen, Carl is good and I like him, Peace, Grandfather. Last time Carl was in the office I showed him the card and he said “that makes it all worth while”. Yes, Carl is brave enough to walk in to say hi every now and then, knowing I am gonna grab him for something. It was my pleasure to share the thank you card with him. Thank you Robert Young, Eric Gee, Michael Friedman, Carl Ekberg and the rest of you I have not yet written about, for all you do to make the ACBA pro bono program tick. Without you there would be less justice in Albany! To all the members of the ACBA, and those that have yet to become members, please fill out the Pro Bono Registration form in the newsletter or go to ACBA website and fill one out, give it to Santa and have him drop it off here…………it will be my best present! We are currently arranging a Family Court CLE that Judge Walsh is going to teach along with Michael Friedman and a few more people I plan on pestering until they say yes. The CLE is going to be free in exchange for taking a Family Court case. I will leave no stone unturned as I look for pro bono attorneys to help me in Family Court. We are planning it for January or February for the training so plan to attend and have the opportunity to feel great helping someone in Family Court, Peace On Earth Good Will To Men (we are among the fortunate) Thanks for all you do! My phone number is (518) 445-7691 x 13 and my email is eguinan@albanycountybar.com. If there is anything I can do, or anything I need to know, drop me a line. So, I have gotten away with not writing my corner for the past two newsletters by having the ACBA volunteers submit a piece about how they felt about volunteering for the ACBA this summer. I hope you read them and could feel the spirit that these women had. They gave so much and asked so little, so having them write something for the newsletter gave them bragging rights to say they had an article published in the ACBA Newsletter. It was a small price to pay for so much help. These really are remarkable women. They have gone on to do other wonderful things and we do miss them and all their help. I have been getting phone calls from people needing pro bono attorneys, and believe it or not, I don’t have a long list of available attorneys. It seems that I continue to go to the same well for assistance and I am afraid those wells may dry up. I know there are plenty of you out there with love for the ACBA who would want to throw your hat into the ring. Please go onto the website and fill out a Pro Bono Services Registration form to lengthen my list or shoot me an email or call me. Admittedly, I may not be recruiting in a most productive way, so I am open to suggestion. I would just like to be able to have a running list of pro bono attorneys related to the areas we cover and hit you up on a rotating basis until you say “UNCLE”! Anyone know where the term “UNCLE” (meaning I give up) comes from? We have started a program with the women’s rehabilitation house in Albany. They are often in need of advocacy in any number of areas. I need pro bono attorneys for them. Many of their issues are pertaining to family, housing, bankruptcy and, of course, criminal law. If I had a panel that was willing to devote themselves to the women at Next Step Rehabilitation House we may be able to impact them to the point where they won’t leave recovery to deal with legal issues and further complicate their situation. Wouldn’t it be great to resolve a legal issue for one of these women and know they were still in recovery because you helped them? That is what James Towne did for one of the women. She was going to lose her deceased parents home if there was not someone living in it. She was leaving the rehab to keep the only thing she had left, the home. A volunteer from Next Step was at a meeting with a local Judge, told her of this woman and the Judge suggested contacting ACBA to see if we could help this woman. I met with the volunteer and the Director of Next Step and we agreed to look at ways to help this population by taking some legal issues off of their plates so they could spend more time focusing on their recovery and maybe get and stay clean and sober. Jim Towne met with the woman and set her issues straight. When I go to the house to meet with the ladies she always takes the time to come to the meeting room to say “I am still here because of what you did for me.” Thank you Jim! I am going to end on that note and one more plea for more pro bono assistance. Hey, have a great Halloween (can you believe it)! Thanks for all you do! My phone number is (518) 445-7691 x 13 and my email is eguinan@albanycountybar.com. If there is anything I can do, or anything I need to know, drop me a line. A sage told me that it is rare for a person to volunteer their time and energy eight hours a day, five days a week for an entire summer at one organization. Enthusiastically, that's what I did this summer at the Albany County Bar Association. Now that Fall is here, I reflect on the wonderful opportunities and precious experiences I have had, and shall never forget the top-shelf people that have had a meaningful impact on me. Under the guidance of Pro Bono Coordinator Eileen Guinan I helped to co-write a proposal regarding how the ACBA can assist law students and law graduates to fulfill Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman's requirement of completing 50 Hours of pro bono service before applying to the New York State Bar, and to create and implement a program to assist the women of The Next Step, Inc. with obtaining various services, each was a honor and unimaginable. I had the honor of meeting and talking with the Honorable Justice Karen K. Peters, Supreme Court Appellate Division, Third Department, during her reception. Justice Peters is the most influential woman who I have ever met. Her tremendous impact on me is forever lasting, and, that experience in itself was extremely energetic, inspirational, and blissful. Faryn J. Keith July is now upon us, and like recent temperatures, the level of interest in volunteering with the Albany County Bar Association has remained high. In June, I wrote Eileen as a newly minted paralegal, inquiring about any volunteer opportunities with the Albany County Bar. Her response – an emphatic, “We would love to have you,” – told me that I was joining an organization that was genuinely enthused with its work. It is a real honor to be working with the ACBA, which has provided us [volunteers] with a glimpse into the day-to-day operations of the Association, and has shown us just how hard this body works to serve its members, and the community as a whole. My excitement about joining the current volunteers at the Albany County Family Court Help Desk has yet to wane. What a pleasure it has been to be surrounded by such motivated women who care to really make a difference in the lives of those that they encounter! While Albany Law students typically staff the Help Desk during the academic year, this summer, we seized the opportunity to jump in and provide the necessary assistance to people conducting business with the Court. That assistance has mostly consisted of distributing the appropriate petitions, and helping the individuals to understand & complete the paperwork. It quickly beca |
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